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Buzzfeed – 39 Questions

He rose to fame as a child in the Harry Potter movies and will forever be carved into our minds as Neville Longbottom. But there is of course WAY more to Matthew Lewis than his childhood character. He’s already proved himself as a force to be reckoned with in BBC series Bluestone 42, and with a collection of movies out this year we’re about to see an awful lot more of him (yay). He’ll next be seen in Ripper Street this week. So BuzzFeedUK sat down to talk all about the show and find out a little bit more about him…

I’ve got quite a few actually. People who leave a bit of tea at the bottom of a mug. That pisses me off. Just drink the whole damn thing. What is wrong with you? Because when I go and put it in the dishwasher it goes everywhere and that does my head in. Drink the whole thing. I made it for you, drink it.

13. Favourite city?

New York.

14. Best holiday destination?

Sydney.

15. Favourite dance move?

I can’t dance to save my life. I can’t name dance moves.

16. Craziest fan story?

It’s not like “oh that’s hilarious, that’s so crazy” but there’s two. There was one that’s quite heartwarming. There was a girl who I met in Canada who had my signature tattooed on her arm. She said that she’d had a few problems in her life and that the character Neville had really helped to turn her life around. She’d had a really tough time and she got my signature tattooed on her arm as a kind of reminder of that. And I thought that was a bit humbling and that was very nice…

And then someone else had a picture of my face on her leg. That was in Australia. That was a bit like “whoa, that’s intense.”

17. Best chat-up line?

A girl said to me the other day, “What does a polar bear weigh?” But she actually said, “What does a polar weigh?” She got it wrong. And I was like, “I don’t know, enough to break the ice?” So it kind of worked in the end, in a kind of charming way. But I do quite like that, it’s quite a nice little chat-up line. I don’t think I’ve ever used it personally. I don’t think I’ve ever used a chat-up line. I’m notoriously quite bad at that kind of thing.

18. Have you ever stolen anything from a film or TV set?

[smiles cheekily] Yes.

19. If so, what?

[Laughs] Oh no, I knew that was coming! How long have you got? I’ve got the whole Neville outfit from the final [Harry Potter] film. The trousers and the shirt and the cardigan, sort of covered in blood and burn marks and stuff. They know I’ve got it now, but I did steal it – with the help of a costume dresser. We worked together and we smuggled it out of the building.

20. Moustache or no moustache?

No moustache! Awful, dreadful. I’m actively growing it back as we speak. I’m not looking forward to it. I’m hopefully going to get a new look for Drummond [his character in Ripper Street] in the new year. We’ll see. I mean, it was great for a month. The novelty wore off very quickly and it was most repellant to women.

21. Funniest story from the Ripper Street set?

Man, they’re a funny bunch of guys. There’s some good stuff that’s happened. One of the things that I did personally, a friend of mine called Jake, who was in this show, there was a point at which he was a corpse and he’s laid out on this slab, he’s all decked out to look like a dead body. And so we recreated that scene from Friends with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Joey, you know when he’s like [puts on accent] “This man is dying!” So we did that whole scene and then we put the cloth over his head and did the “This man is dead.” I’m not going to show it to you but we filmed it. That was a funny day.

22. Who was always latest to set?

Usually me because I was trying to find some phone signal around. We were in the middle of nowhere and finding phone signal was tricky. So probably me or Adam [Rothenberg, who plays Captain Homer Jackson] because he’s just off somewhere being cool.

23. Who forgot their lines the most?

[Laughs] He’s going to hate me. Probably Adam. Because he’s off somewhere being cool. No…the reason is it’s on him, being the professional doctor he’s got all these mad, big scientific words and things he’s got to try and explain to all of us thickos. And so I feel for him. He’s got like all these five-page monologues where he’s talking in science terminology and I don’t know how he gets through it to be honest.

24. Do you have any set superstitions?

No, I’m not really a superstitious person. I’m quite OCD but that’s not a superstition. I don’t think, “Oh it’s going to go dreadfully if I don’t do this.” I’ve just got these weird kind of OCD things, like my morning routines are quite set. But again if it doesn’t happen one day I won’t think I’m going to fail.

25. Coffee or tea?

Recently coffee. I just made the switch this year. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing.

26. Twitter or Instagram?

Ooh…same thing. I’m just kind of making the transition from Twitter to Instagram at the minute. I don’t know how I feel about that, but Instagram seems to be the one I’m more focused on. I just don’t know how much I’ve got to say, really. I’m better at showing things than talking about things.

27. Last song that was stuck in your head?

“Last Christmas” by Wham! But that’s been stuck in my head at all times, 24 hours a day, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

28. Your worst habit?

[Grins] I have no bad habits. What are you talking about? I think I moan far too vocally about people who leave tea at the bottom of a mug, that’s probably a pretty bad habit.

29. Favourite joke?

The price of Velcro’s going up. It’s a rip-off.

30. Favourite show to binge-watch?

I’m engaged in so many shows at the minute. I totally was in love with Better Call Saul, I was so into that. Do you know what, I’m actually a bit of a Star Trek geek and even though I’ve seen them all a billion and one times I can just sit and watch episode after episode. It’s Patrick Stewart, you know. What a guy.

31. What’s your go-to karaoke song?

I can’t sing to save my parents’ life. I’m tone deaf. But if I was forced to at some point, at gun point, it would be “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones or something like that.

32. Do you have a party trick?

No. I should get one, shouldn’t I? How depressing.

It’s OK, I don’t have one.

Oh, you don’t either? That makes me feel better.

33. What’s your favourite emoji?

The thumbs up. Because it kind of means, yeah I agree with what you’re saying, end of conversation. There’s nothing further to be discussed. It’s kind of my get-out.

34. Favourite career moment so far?

That’s hard to say. Wow. I’ve got some stuff coming out next year that I can’t really talk about that has been quite a highlight in my career. You know what, it’s not really my career but a friend of mine, Thea [Sharrock], who directed Me Before You, I went out for her birthday the other night and there was only a handful of us there and one of the guests was Danny DeVito, and I was kind of like, “I’m just on a night out with Danny DeVito and that’s kind of because of my career.” It’s kind of one of those moments where you step out of your body for a moment and go, “Holy shit, this is what your life is.” So that was quite a highlight.

35. Who was the last Harry Potter star you spoke to?

Robbie Coltrane.

36. Biggest phobia?

Spiders.

37. Biggest regret?

I don’t really regret anything I don’t think. If I was to regret something it would be…I moved to London this year and it’s been the most amazing year, I’ve had a very good 2015. It’s not really a regret at all, but maybe I could have done that earlier. So that’s not really a regret. Yeah, that’s shit. That’s all I’ve got, I’m afraid.

38. The one thing guaranteed to make you happy?

I could say something really profound like my friends or my parents but, man, if you give me a pizza on a Saturday night I am thrilled. I’m yours, man. Put a film on with a pizza with pepperoni on it, you’ve got my attention.

39. What’s your life motto?

When I was younger it used to be “everything happens for a reason”, but as I’ve got older that seems to mean less to me. I don’t believe in fate, I don’t think our lives are predestined. I think that we achieve things by putting ourselves in positions to achieve things, whether that’s through learning or being positive. I try to take an outlook on life where good shit doesn’t just happen to people. People who get themselves out there and want to experience and say yes, they’re the people who experience these opportunities and stuff. So it’s a bit wanky, but I guess it’s kind of the idea that we make our own luck. We’re only here once, so it’s what we make of it. No one’s going to do it for us.